It is known to pack smoking articles and other consumer goods in containers comprising an outer shell or sleeve and an inner slide or drawer mounted in the outer shell for slidable movement relative thereto. To access goods housed in the inner slide of such “slide and shell” containers, a consumer pushes or pulls the inner slide from an initial closed position, in which the inner slide is surrounded by the outer shell, to an open position, in which a portion of the inner slide projects outwardly from the outer shell in order to expose an open end or side of the inner slide through which the goods may be removed.
Containers of this type are known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,960 which discloses a slide and shell container comprising an outer shell with an u-shaped stopper flap on the inside of the rear wall of the outer shell. The inner slide of the slide and shell container comprises a box portion and a lid portion hinged to another at the rear wall of the inner slide. The inner slide further comprises a u-shaped stopper flap on the rear wall of the box portion of the inner slide which is aligned in an opposite direction then the stopper flap on the inside of the rear wall of the outer shell. When the outer shell and the inner slide are moved relative to each other, the two opposing stopper flaps engage with each other and stop the opening movement at a predetermined position. However, because of the additional stopper flaps known high-speed manufacturing machines cannot readily be used for the production of these known containers without a complicated and expensive adaptation, if such an adaptation is possible at all. As a consequence these containers are made by hand which is a severe limitation, in particular when high quantities of these types of containers are required.
It would be desirable to provide a container which may at least partially be manufactured on common high-speed manufacturing machines with no or only minor adaptation of these machines.